KernelScan.io

CRITICAL

ext4 BlockGroup Overflow

CVE-2026-43067

CVSS 9.8 / 10.0 NVD

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

KernelScan AI7.3HIGH

01

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: handle wraparound when searching for blocks for indirect mapped blocks Commit 4865c768b563 ("ext4: always allocate blocks only from groups inode can use") restricts what blocks will be allocated for indirect block based files to block numbers that fit within 32-bit block numbers. However, when using a review bot running on the latest Gemini LLM to check this commit when backporting into an LTS based kernel, it raised this concern: If ac->ac_g_ex.fe_group is >= ngroups (for instance, if the goal group was populated via stream allocation from s_mb_last_groups), then start will be >= ngroups. Does this allow allocating blocks beyond the 32-bit limit for indirect block mapped files? The commit message mentions that ext4_mb_scan_groups_linear() takes care to not select unsupported groups. However, its loop uses group = *start, and the very first iteration will call ext4_mb_scan_group() with this unsupported group because next_linear_group() is only called at the end of the iteration. After reviewing the code paths involved and considering the LLM review, I determined that this can happen when there is a file system where some files/directories are extent-mapped and others are indirect-block mapped. To address this, add a safety clamp in ext4_mb_scan_groups().

02

Engine v0.2.0

Risk summary

Local users can trigger an out-of-bounds access in ext4's block allocator by causing an invalid block group index to be used during allocation for indirect-mapped files. This leads to out-of-bounds reads of kernel heap data (information leak), potential filesystem metadata corruption from allocating blocks beyond valid ranges, and system instability or kernel panic.

Affectedfs/ext4/mballoc.c (ext4 filesystem)

Vulnerability analysis

The vulnerability occurs in ext4's mballoc block allocator when the starting group number (ac->ac_g_ex.fe_group) is not validated against the total number of block groups (ngroups). In mixed filesystems with both extent-mapped and indirect-mapped files, stream allocation can populate the goal group from s_mb_last_groups with a value exceeding ngroups. Without validation, this invalid index is used to access per-group data structures on the first iteration of ext4_mb_scan_groups_linear(), resulting in an out-of-bounds read. If allocation proceeds, it may select blocks from invalid groups, causing filesystem metadata corruption for indirect-mapped files that require 32-bit block numbers. The fix adds a bounds check that clamps the starting group to 0 when it exceeds ngroups.

03

BranchFixed inPatch commit
5.165.16f89bba144938
6.16.1.16883170a05908b
6.126.12.8012624c5b724a
6.186.18.212a368ccddfc4
6.196.19.11bb81702370fa
6.66.6.1344bec4a498ce8